President Obama, civil rights leaders and entertainers will dedicate the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, an event that was postponed in late August because of Hurricane Irene.

Gates open at 6 a.m. to the free ceremony at West Potomac Park that’s open to the public, with no tickets required. The memorial near the Jefferson Memorial features two huge stone boulders that give way to a huge stone-carved likeness of King.

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation released a list of participants and ceremony details Tuesday. The program begins at 9 a.m. with comments by Julian Bond, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Marian Wright Edelman, former Ambassador Andrew Young, Rev. Jesse Jackson and others plus members of the King family and journalist Dan Rather. Jennifer Holliday and poet Nikki Giovanni are among the musical and spoken-word performers.

The official dedication at 11 a.m. with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be broadcast on large-screen TVs set up in the park. More dignitaries and celebrities — singer Aretha Franklin, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and others — are expected to participate, according to the foundation’s statement.

The memorial, which has been open since mid-August, marks the 395th site added to the National Park Service. The original ceremony was scheduled Aug. 28 on the 48th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Sunday October 16 has been declared as Steve Jobs Day in the iconic Apple chief’s home state of California, on the same day the company holds a memorial service for its late founder.

California Gov Jerry Brown tweeted on Friday evening that Sunday ‘will be Steve Jobs Day in the State of California’ – a salute to come 11 days after the computer genius died aged 56, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

In issuing the proclamation, the governor wrote that the products that Jobs introduced ‘changed the way the entire world communicates’.

The declaration read: ‘In his life and work, Steve Jobs embodied the California dream. To call him influential would be an understatement.

‘His innovations transformed an industry, and the products he conceived and shepherded to market have changed the way the entire world communicates.

‘Most importantly, his vision helped put powerful technologies, once the exclusive domain of big business and government, in the hands of ordinary consumers.

‘We have only just begun to see the outpouring of creativity and invention that this democratization of technology has made possible.

‘It is fitting that we mark this day to honour his life and achievements as a uniquely Californian visionary. He epitomized the spirit of a state that an eager world watches to see what will come next.’

Apple has invited some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names to a private memorial service for Jobs on the same day, according to a copy of the invitation and several invitees cited by The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

The event will be held at Stanford University’s campus on Sunday evening. It follows a small private funeral held for the Apple co-founder and chief executive last week.

The memorial is expected to be attended by Silicon Valley luminaries and others close to Jobs, said the invitees.

Guests to the invitation-only service were asked to respond to Emerson Collective, a philanthropic organization established by Laurene Powell Jobs, the father-of-four’s wife.

It was on the Stanford campus that Jobs met his future wife, who was studying for a graduate business degree, in 1989 when he gave a talk to students.

And it was also there that in 2005 he delivered his most famous and moving speech, on the lessons he had learned from his first struggles with the disease.

‘Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,’ he said in a commencement address to students.

‘Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

‘Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.’

Apple also plans to host an event for Apple employees to celebrate Jobs’ life at its headquarters in Cupertino on October 19.

Jobs’ legacy continued to resonate across the globe on Friday in commercial terms as well as tributes.

Apple shares closed at a record high as the company put its latest device, the iPhone 4S, on sale at retail stores in the U.S. and six other countries.

Long lines formed at various locations, even though the company had already seen strong pre-orders for the device, MarketWatch reported.

Apple said earlier this week that pre-orders for the iPhone 4S topped the one million mark in its first 24 hours – surpassing the record set by its last smartphone product, the iPhone 4.